DAMMAM, 21 June — A massive fire gutted a paints factory in Dammam Industrial Area II yesterday destroying goods worth millions of riyals and injuring eight people, two of them seriously.
According to fire department personnel, the cause of the blaze could not be ascertained but they suspected an electrical short circuit.
Factory sources said the fire broke out at 11 a.m. and the Civil Defense personnel with fire-fighting equipment reached the scene within minutes. But since it was a paint factory, the fire spread quickly and engulfed the entire plant as well as the adjacent warehouse in no time.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, the Civil Defense sought help from the army as well as the National Guard to contain the fire which threatened to spread fast.
“Fortunately there were no other factories close-by, otherwise it would have been a catastrophe,” said a Civil Defense officer.
Six of the injured were treated on the spot for smoke inhalation while an Indian worker at the factory and a fireman had been taken to hospital with serious burns.
Fire fighters had a hard time before bringing the fire under control by late afternoon. At one point the flames were as high as 15 meters, the heat compounded by the scorching sun made it impossible to go nearer the site. At least eight fire-fighting units were put into operation.
The actual loss due to the fire could not be ascertained yet, but factory sources put it at more than SR100 million.
